Day Fifteen of the CCC trip

Dano says:
Because we didn't over drink the night before, we were able to get up before the rooster crowed. We three graced the complementary breakfast buffet and got our grub on. With that outta the way we saddled up and were gone almost before sun up. Nimec told us to give him a two to three hour warning before we got into town, sorry buddy but we were 100 miles west of you at 9:00am. We were turning and burning. We did make a gas stop at the Big Texan where we added layers and rain gear as the weather ahead didn't look promising,


plus we were gaining a little elevation and the temps were cooling. I figured it would be better to be nice and warm vs stopping to get into rain gear on the side of the open road. I missed Hwy 104 in Tucumcari and went west till we picked up Hwy 129 north at Newkirk, New Mexico.


From there we shot up 129 to the 104 intersection and headed west again.

That was the first time for me to take that road and I was happy that we did, it was filled with great views and no traffic. Hell, it was a empty countryside and we had the road to ourselves, for the most part. At one spot we came across some highway construction and the road was just covered in gravel. It was loose and dusty, Chewie passed a semi truck carrying a bridge support and continued hauling ass. Bucket and myself took it a little more reserved and passed the truck after we ate enough dust from the truck, cough, cough. Once we all grouped back up and got into some scenic areas we stopped and took some pics and enjoyed the wonderful sights. I think it was on the 3rd or 4th stop that Bucket did a high speed pass on the Sprint. Bucket took me by surprise, I was cruising along about 70mph and whoooooosh goes a yellow blaze. I'm a man, so I grabbed a handful of RC51 throttle and Bucket was still pulling away, downshift a few gears and THEN the 51 was cooking and starting to chase down Bucket. I think I passed him doing 140 and didn't let off until I saw 164. Damn that was fun,






open high plains roads with stunning scenery to boot. A few miles up the road we pulled into Las Vegas, NM to gas up where we picked up the 518 to Taos. The 518 is a great road,


its scenic and twisty. The day turned out to be great regarding the weather, as the early morning hours in Texas was the only place that we encountered mist/rain. The 518 and the sight of the Rockies made the past few long days worth it. I remember coming around a corner and seeing a fresh skunk killed in the road.
I had to stop to show the fellas up close what a real skunk looks like as that is my moniker(I ran over a skunk a few months back on my Speed Four going to work). The trek up the hill in the higher altitudes sent the message to my lungs that there is less oxygen up here....huff huff. I'm huffing along and I look over and what is Bucket doing? Lighting a ciggy, haha. With pictures of a skunk up close now in hand, we jet off to Taos. I think we ended up at a Motel 6 in a large suite and had a cot delivered to the room. After a brief rest we cleaned up and rode down to a Mexican joint and ate dinner. The place was good and we shared some nachos, I forget what he guys had, but I recall we were all stuffed and enjoyed the food. Back to the room we went where we watched tv and called it an early night and we did a fair amount today. I was tired.

miles traveled for the day=400

View Larger Map